A.Kanyakumari

Avasavala Kanyakumari hails from
Vijayanagaram, a cultural hub in the South
Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Her tryst
with the violin began at a very early age
during when she came under the tutelage of
Vijayaswara Rao and later from M.
Chandrasekharan. The watershed in her career
came in 1972. When her musical genius was
given due recognition by the late Dr. M.L.
Vasantha Kumari (MLV).

Kanyakumari went on to accompany MLV on her
concert tours for the next 19 years. During
her 1980 US tour, a Minneapolis violin
collector who was amongst the audience,
struck by her sterling performance,
presented Kanyakumari with a violin from her
collection. In 1990 Kanyakumari performed at
the Tansen Utsav in NewDelhi. The celebrated
Hindustani musician Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
after hearing Kanyakumari’s concert, in a
rare gesture, draped her with the same shawl
that he was honored with on the same stage
She has also accompanied besides MLV,
flautist Dr. N.Ramani, vocalist.